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This, for me, is the hardest time of the year. I can’t go fishing because the season isn’t open for another few weeks but the weather is sunny and warming up, plus the snow is going down really fast, almost gone from our backyard now.

I guess it’s time to bring up my fishing gear from the basement to make sure I know where every thing is and to organize things that didn’t get organized last fall.

You never really know what to expect at this time of year. March can be very unpredictable and even though the snow is going down it could just a quickly start piling back up again. I have come back from Flordia more than once, at the end of March to find more snow that we had almost all winter. But I always keep my hopes up and dream of my favorite hot spots for brook trout and smallmouth bass.

I will have my fly rod with  me of course. The opening day of fishing season wouldn’t be the same without trying to catch something on my fly rod but it doesn’t always happen so I will be sure to take my spinning rod as well and some nice Mepps. The brookies love the Mepps and if they are their the Mepps will find them.

This is the only time of year I keep fish, other than Atlantic salmon. The water is clear and cold making for the best tasting fish. Later when the water warms up the fish seem to get softer and even have worms which kind of turn me off.

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I love Atlantic salmon fishing on the fly using my favorite artificial flies, but sometimes that line ups are pretty long.

It took a long while before I was willing or confident enough in my fly fishing abilities to step into the link of fly fishing fanatics at Quarryville New Brunswick but I finally did and it wasn’t so bad as people let on. Maybe they just made it sound like they were all cranky old men so there would be less fishing.

I have one fly fishing buddy that still won’t fly fish when their are too many other fishers around and it’s been more than 20 years. He just doesn’t have that confidence but I fish with him all the time and he is equal to my abilities, maybe even better, but don’t tell him that, it will go straight to his head and I will never hear the end of it. So I won’t mention is name.

I have seen days when the weather and time of year were just right. You could see a line of mostly men fishing, but every once in a while a woman jumps into the line. The I am sure would stretch for at least a half mile down river.

Next time I am at Quarryville and the conditions are just right I will take a picture, maybe even a few minutes of video so you can see how cool it is to watch the fly lines going and the line moving.

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I love to get out on the water and relax while I am fishing. Even though I get all excited and am exhausted by the end of most fishing day I am still relieving stress build up. Fishing is just a great way for me to sluff off all the negative stress that I tend to carry around with me.

This particular day I was alone and on a new lake, well new to me that is. I like to find and explore new places and a lot of times I find great spots and other times I just come up dry. I have even fished a few places that didn’t have any fish and dried up mid season.

I am sure that if any one saw me fishing those places they would get a good laugh.

A couple of friends had taken me back into Logan Lake and on the way in I saw another lake but they didn’t know what it was called so I had to wait until I was back home to look it up. After some searching I found out it is called Mitchell Lake. I then made plans in my mind to someday hit that lake and see what it had to offer.

That day eventually came. It took me about 3 hours just to get there and then I had to drag my canoe through some pretty rough country to get to the water. There was access to the lake from the road but it was almost straight down and trying to get to a better spot to get my canoe in looked a long ways away.

I managed to get my canoe into the water without killing myself but I was so exhausted I had to take a break to catch my breath. So I sat on the edge of the lake and had a sandwich and some water, just looking around to see if I could see any movement.

After about 15 minutes, seeing absolutely nothing, I got into my canoe and headed to a spot that looked promising. I got about half way to the spot I had my eye on and was right out in the middle of the lake when I heard this rumbling sound but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from.

The sound was getting louder and louder and I could even feel my canoe shaking. I had no idea what was happening but I stopped paddling and grabbed the sides of the canoe.

All of a sudden three, maybe four jets flew over. They were so low to the trees I could hear them but didn’t see them until they were right on top of me. Scared the crap right out of me.

Well it took me a long while to calm down. I am sure I could have hit them with a rock they were so close to the water.

After I calmed down I laughed for a while. I had never been that close to a jet in flight.

I remember wondering how that would effect any trout in the lake. Then I heard them coming around for another run. Again my heart was pounding in my chest. The vibrations were so strong I thought I was going to flip my canoe, maybe it was me shaking, not sure about that.

Any ways after the third time they did that I decided I didn’t want to fish there any more. I haven’t been back since and never saw a fish or a ripple.

I managed to find a much easier path out of the there so I didn’t have to drag my poor canoe all the way back up that cliff.

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There is a stretch of water on the Kennebecasis River system that I love to fly fish. I very seldom see another person and I like it like that just fine.

I can spend the better part of a day on the river catching brookies and in about a half hour I am back at my car. Not that I am lazy but by the end of a long hot day wearing chest waders it is rather cool to get back to the vehicle and hit the road. When it’s really hot the breeze of driving sure feels nice.

There are a couple of holes along the river where I see people have fished and it looks like they come to these spots with lawn chairs and just sit at the hole. What a boring way to fish, I have never been able to just sit and fish. I have to be on the move, even in a boat I can’t just dangle my line over the side of the boat. I have to be casting and feeling like I am active.

I don’t mind others fishing like that though as it leaves me with more water to fish.

Stoney Creek isn’t a wide or deep river but is perfect for fly fishing and wading and there are 8 to 10 inch brookies all through the system with plenty of larger trout, if you are stealthy enough to get close enough to cast to them.

When the water is high enough during certain times of the year, like July and August, you can have the time of your fly fishing life. I have taken a few friends to this spot and just happened to catch a Mayfly hatch in progress.

It’s just one of those times that makes you laugh out loud. An experience every fly fisher should experience.

My poor health may have kept me off the water for 5 years but I’m back and I am planning on hitting this little stretch of water a few times this summer.

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